Starting a chat

You can chat with anyone who has a colored ball icon next to his or her name. When someone is online, a green, yellow, or red colored ball will appear. Here's how to chat with someone who's available:

From Chat in Gmail and Google+:

Find the name of the person you'd like to chat with.

Click the person's name to open a chat window.

Enter your message in the text field, and press Enter.

Wait for your contact to respond!

You can also search for a contact by entering his or her name in the box at the top of your roster. Just enter the name of the person you'd like to chat with, and then enter your message in the chat window.